


His Father's Clutches

by DeviWan



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Immortality, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-23
Updated: 2012-11-23
Packaged: 2017-11-19 08:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeviWan/pseuds/DeviWan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi couldn't explain his immediate, staggering attraction towards his neighbour, nor could he explain how people were dying all around the Uchihas, or how these Uchihas could disappear in thin air and know he was a secret agent. All in all, he couldn't explain anything, but he'll do his best with what he's been given. Kakashi/Itachi slash fiction. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Father's Clutches

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'ed! All mistakes are mine! Also, I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!

When Kakashi was first assigned to this little town because traces of Orochimaru had unexpectedly shown up, he was sure he’d be in yet another pointless mission. Orochimaru was sly and conniving and so very difficult to locate, let alone capture. He was not the type of international criminal to pay a mind to little towns like Konoha, and Kakashi couldn’t really blame him. Konoha was small and in the middle of a forest… a forest that was in the middle of nowhere. It was a two hour drive to the nearest town and four hour drive to the nearest city. Nothing was interesting about it either. The people were all nice and normal and definitely didn’t look like they’d have anything to do with Orochimaru or his sudden reappearance on their radar. There was nothing interesting about the place; every day was the exact same routine. The only thing that really caught Kakashi’s interest had been the town folklores, but even then, he’d only been entertained for a couple of days. 

He spent most of the first four weeks looking in every corner of the town, for any traces of Orochimaru. He didn’t find anything, not that he really expected to. The other times that the organisation had even spotted the wanted man, it’d been in cities much bigger than Konoha, or in mountains that contained minerals only the snake-like man could comprehend. Konoha had nothing, nothing at all and Kakashi wondered if they’ve been fed lies by a double in the agency. He tried everything. He tried to narrow down the town’s population to the faces that could have been in contact with Orochimaru, but that was a fruitless effort. The people here were All. So. Nice. It was as if words like ‘lies,’ ‘pain,’ and ‘corruption,’ didn’t exist. The only word the one-eyed man could use for the town was ‘nice.’ Everything was nice, everyone was nice. It was sickening.

In Konoha, Kakashi felt like the dirtiest criminal on the planet. Especially when he walked around reading porn in public and the people only shot him confused looks. Dirty glares, unbelieving ones he was used to, but confused ones he was not. It was as if he was slowly tainting the heaven-like town just by walking the streets. 

After two and a half months of feeling like the most corrupted man on Earth, he was just about to make a call to his boss, Tsunade, and demand to go back to headquarters so he could do more productive assignments, when he finally turned his eyes to his neighbour. He was standing next to the window in his new temporary home bought just for this mission, eyeing the phone blaringly, when a car pulled into the driveway of his neighbour’s house. The car was nothing interesting, just average, but he memorised the number plate anyway. He watched as the driver got out, graceful and tall and stern looking, which was a strange contrast to everyone else in the town. He looked to be in his forties and was pale, made even paler by the dark colour of his eyes and near shoulder length hair, and there were lines on either side of his mouth, result of years of frowning and scowling Kakashi speculated. 

Another man stepped out from the back seat, and Kakashi found it amusing that he was a younger version of the driver. He was just as pale and just as tall and only the lack of age-lines made it known to Kakashi that they were two different people. The younger man even wore the same frown, and Kakashi’s lips quirked up in amusement. The only true difference was the obvious age gap –he looked to be in his mid-teens- and the hair. This guy’s was short and spikey at the back, tinged with blue, and a quiet snicker escaped Kakashi’s masked lips. The secret agent couldn’t even help the image of a chicken’s ass in his head. But then… in the next moment, halting and sudden, the smile on his lips vanished and shivering flutters raced along his skin. 

And when he’s a hundred years old and asked to name one instant in his life that he’d remember and take to his grave, that moment would be it. 

Kakashi wasn’t a hundred yet, and he doubted he’d live to be anywhere near it in his line of work, but he didn’t think he was going to forget that moment… that moment when the third man stepped out of the dark grey car. He wasn’t as tall as the other two, though still tall, and his features were less sharp, but his expression was just as blank, chin held just as high and posture just as royalty-like. Kakashi was suddenly thankful that he was still inside his house and no one was around to see his imitation of a fish. He was breathless, chest heaving in and out but his lungs remained desperate. It was like a punch to his chest, only without the pain and he was still reeling from it as he watched the first man open the front door, and the second one, the teenager, walked around to be beside the last. 

The two youngest ones started walking, and only then did Kakashi finally notice how utterly pale the last man was. He wasn’t pale like the other two. He was pale, with blue tinted lips and dark, dark hair and he looked like he’d just been defrosted. It was winter, Kakashi knew, but it wasn’t so cold as to leave a man’s lips blue, so he really had to wonder where the abnormally beautiful man had been. 

“Hmm,” he hummed to himself, refusing to scratch at his covered chin because that’d just be too cliché.

He studied the resemblance of all three and concluded that the oldest was the father, and the last two were brothers. He tried to study all of them in detail, really he tried, but his attention came back to the last man, the one with long dark hair and a pretty, pretty face. He was wearing a long, dark trench coat, they all were actually, and only the skin on his face and hands were exposed… and such pretty things they were. Again, Kakashi didn’t think he was wearing the heavy looking coat because it was cold. It wasn’t that cold, not at all. 

He shifted and got into a better position to look at the man. He was younger than Kakashi, by about ten years, but he couldn’t be too sure. He looked to be about twenty, maybe younger… but twenty’s the appropriate guess. He looked a little sad too, and if Kakashi were any less of an agent, he would have missed it. In fact, he looked at the youngest one as well; they both looked sad, miserable, though they both were great at not showing it. The father though, the father was the interesting one. He didn’t look at his sons like he was looking at his children. The father eyed the younger one like someone would eye an annoying neighbour that wouldn’t disappear and the older son like his very first big catch after going fishing. It wasn’t a good sight to see and Kakashi felt bad for the two young men. 

The three look-alikes disappeared into their home, the door slamming shut, and Kakashi was left feeling like he’d been standing there for a thousand years. 

He took a moment, and he’d never out loud admit it, to take deep breaths and clutch at his chest. It didn’t feel like it’d exactly returned to him; he was still breathless, dazed and on cloud nine. Once he was right in the head again, he picked up his discarded book and went up to his office, where he missed dinner by reading through every detail of his neighbours his contact sent him. The Uchihas, father and sons they were. Kakashi even admitted to himself that he really only read about one, Uchiha Itachi. The others he only skimmed through. Uchiha Fugake was the father, forty-four, and was the chief of police at the local station. His wife died giving birth to his youngest son. There were more, of course, but Kakashi had already forgotten what he read once he started reading about the oldest son. 

Uchiha Itachi. Kakashi took a moment to digest it, because who named their child ‘weasel?’ It wasn’t funny though, he didn’t think it was funny because the man himself was the epitome of beauty… so no, it was not funny. It even suited him, in a way. Itachi was small, as well as slender and graceful. Kakashi also found out that Itachi was only twenty-one, and he immediately felt that churning in his stomach -something like guilt and shame- for being so passionately attracted to someone so much younger than himself. It was a little secret that only he knew, though, so he had no trouble washing away the guilt and shame with alcohol. He read on through the report Tenzo –well, it’s Yamato now- sent him. Itachi was a straight A’s student and graduated high school with the highest testing score, that was three years ago, but he hadn’t applied for college. He’s currently unemployed, just staying home.

Kakashi took another long moment to digest this. At this point he already knew something wasn’t right. Instinct, he supposed. Uchiha Itachi didn’t appear like someone to sit home all day long without a job, not at all. 

He wondered why he hadn’t bothered to check up on his neighbours… in fact, that should have been the very first thing he did on this undercover mission of his. The thought never even crossed his mind; he literally drew up a blank. He’d never even paid a mind to the Uchihas, not even a glance, and this disturbed him. He was among the best of the bests in the agency; a little slip like this shouldn’t even be a possibility. The only explanation for this slip up was that maybe he was diving early into senility; an unpleasant explanation but one that was all too likely.

Chuckling at his less than reasonable train of thoughts –and this could be because he’d already had three bottles of beer- he read the report regarding the youngest Uchiha. Sasuke; fifteen years old, still in high school… hates his father with a passion? Kakashi blinked, put down his bottle of sweet heaven and leaned in closer to the screen. The words struck out at him, clearly saying that when he was younger his school counsellor had sent him to a professional psychiatrist when the boy had no qualm about letting people know that he hated his own father. Kakashi read that particular report again, and again, before sitting back and chuckling to himself. Somehow he liked the boy already. 

When he’s read everything about the family, and gone back again to read more about Itachi, he spent the rest of the night trying to get the Uchiha family out of his head by going through all the reported sightings of Orochimaru. He succeeded. Four days later another report showed up, Orochimaru was in the area, and the Uchihas were nothing more than an insignificant, distant piece of memory. 

…*…

He was at a lost for a little while, looking in the wrong places, studying the wrong people, when finally –finally- light was shed into this undercover mission of his. He thought he was going nowhere, and Orochimaru had already moved on to some other place, but then the boy next door sneaked out in the middle of daylight and Kakashi once again berated himself for not paying enough attention to his neighbours, who clearly were not what they seemed to be. He slapped himself on the forehead for that; it was a rookie mistake. He thought maybe he should lay off the alcohol and actually try to do the mission. Maybe this was where he could put an end to Orochimaru and his evil experiments. 

It was Monday when the boy, Sasuke, made his move. It was a students’ free day, to celebrate the town’s founding some few hundred years ago. There wasn’t a car in their driveway, so Kakashi only assumed Uchiha Fugaku’s gone to work. He was the chief of police; Kakashi didn’t think he got too many days off, though he didn’t really see why not. The town had no crimes; most of the people here probably didn’t even know the true meaning of the word. And he wondered, grimly, what the chief would think if he found out that his youngest son sneaked out without his permission. He looked up to where he knew Uchiha Itachi’s room was –this was found out by pure research, nothing more… certainly nothing like staying up all night so watch out for Itachi’s silhouette- and saw the blinds shut; sleeping, most likely. Sasuke took off, and although he was fast, Kakashi followed without delay. 

The boy’s wearing a dark jacket one size too big for him. The hood’s up, and if he hadn’t witnessed the boy leaving home then he wouldn’t know it was Sasuke at all. Kakashi silently, expertly trailed the boy. Sasuke went around the town, away from its people and the celebration, and into the thinnest part of the forest. He stopped at a pond in there, rested for a few short hours til it was midday, and started again, heading into the thickest part of the forest. It wasn’t until a little bit later that Kakashi realised Sasuke stopped to throw off his scent. In that little rest break, the wind changed direction at least thirteen times. 

Kakashi sped up. Sasuke obviously knew what he was doing. 

Eventually, when the sun was at its peak, the boy led him to the mouth of a cave. It was so… not what Kakashi expected. A cave; so obvious and typical. Sasuke didn’t go into the cave though, just stood there, arms crossed over his chest and face set in a scowl, waiting, and Kakashi found himself having to find a spot to hide and still be able to observe whatever’s going to happen. He ended up circling the impatient boy –the unconscious tapping of his foot- and the mouth of the cave to stand beside it, off the side hidden by thick, high bushes. He pulled his mask up higher on his face and unrolled the bandana he used to cover his bad eye to use it to cover his hair. He had no doubt that his shiny, silver hair would give his position away. Sasuke didn’t seem like a careless kid; already his eyes were scanning the forest, careful and not missing one thing. It’s years and years of being good at his job that saved Kakashi from the boy’s eyes. 

He froze. 

An hour and a half later Orochimaru appeared.

The sudden appearance crushed down on him, and it was his locked muscles that kept him from falling flat on his face. When he’d set out trailing Sasuke, he thought the boy might be hanging with the wrong crowd, or doing something that his daddy wouldn’t be too happy with. He didn’t think the boy was the reason for Orochimaru appearing up on his radar again. 

Orochimaru hadn’t aged one bit, even though the last time Kakashi saw him was thirteen years ago. He was aware that the dark haired, snake-like man had been working on immortality, only he didn’t think the man was anywhere near it. It wasn’t a possibility; everyone was meant to die at some point. He thought that Orochimaru must have been insane or just plain bored to be working on something like this. And yet, the man stood in front of his eyes, looking no older than thirty despite being near sixty. Even Tsunade, his boss, was starting to look her age. 

He forced down the bile rising in his throat. He’d been chasing Orochimaru for a long time, had read the report of the bodies found after his experiments. What he’d left behind on those tested bodies were out of this world, evil, and he had to wonder what the mad evil scientist did to himself to remain in a frozen state. As he watched, too far away to hear a word they’re saying, he observed the situation from every angle, without jumping to a conclusion. The first thing that came to mind, the very first, was that if Orochimaru had succeeded and was therefore immortal, then he wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t still be looking for something that Kakashi knew didn’t exist. Because he had no doubt that Orochimaru was indeed looking for something. Whatever the man was not looking for, he’s already gotten. 

Orochimaru stood with his back to Kakashi, and the secret agent willed him to shift so he could observe him better. He didn’t turn, though, but Sasuke did. The boy pulled on the left side of his too large T-shirt’s collar, tugged it down for Orochimaru to see. Kakashi’s first reaction was to wince and the thought that ran through his head was that Orochimaru was sicker than he imagined. But then Sasuke shifted again, and from this distance Kakashi thought he saw a bruise or something dark on the boy’s neck, low where it met his shoulder. It must’ve been pretty bad, for Kakashi to see it all the way from his hiding spot. 

“Stop staring!” Sasuke suddenly snapped, loud and impatient. “You’ve seen it many times, now tell me what…” And he trailed off as his voice became lower, too low for Kakashi to hear. 

They talked and talked for hours. Orochimaru seemed so hopeful, like a kid on Christmas, while Sasuke seemed desperate, suddenly too old for his body. 

Too many questions ran through his head, and Kakashi was shocked that even now, while spying on something important as this, Itachi was still lingering somewhere in his mind. He couldn’t forget, not completely. He didn’t think he could ever forget, not those big, sad eyes and not those pretty little lips. 

Something happened, a flash of movement, and Kakashi was brought out of his wandering thoughts. He’ll need to watch carefully, remember everything so that he’d be able to report it back to headquarters. Over Orochimaru’s shoulders Kakashi saw him bring out a notebook. He drew on it, careful and analysing. So it wasn’t a bruise, whatever was on Sasuke’s shoulder. Kakashi watched the dark haired man tuck the note into his coat pocket and turn to leave. Sasuke remained where he stood; an impatient crease in between his brows and Kakashi frowned too. He knew a deal when he saw one. Sasuke wanted something, wanted it bad enough to deal with Orochimaru. Or… it could be that the boy didn’t know what he was getting into, in which Kakashi knew he had to watch out for the boy. 

He’s been in similar situations before, and protocol would normally have him silently trailing behind the boy. Protocol would have him keeping in the shadow until further notice, but when Hatake Kakashi found himself slipping from the shadow and stalking towards Sasuke, he knew his attraction for a certain Uchiha Itachi had gone terribly wrong. He’s been attracted to people before, almost in love at one point, but he’s never gone to the point of letting it cloud his judgment. Being attracted to someone had never made him abandon years of drills and blindly following his instincts before. 

As he got closer to Sasuke –the boy didn’t even look surprised- he knew he had to fix it. It’s blind, unreasonable feelings like these that would eventually get him killed. There’s a tiny bit in him that wanted to blame Itachi for this, wanted to blame him for being so beautiful and mysterious and out of reach, but he knew more than anything that it wasn’t the man’s fault. They’ve never even spoken. Kakashi knew… this was all him. 

He unrolled his bandana from over his head and adjusted it. He hoped to god he appeared casual. “Fancy meeting you here, neighbour,” he said, his voice a low drawl. He leaned against the flattest face of the cave wall, like he would at a street corner or something. “What are you doing here?”

“None of your business,” the boy snapped. He turned away from Kakashi and stormed away. Kakashi let a few seconds come between them, and then he followed. “Quit following me.”

“I’m not. I’m just heading home. So, why aren’t you out celebrating the town’s founding?” He wanted the boy to turn around so he could use his one-eyed smile on him, but he doubted that it would work. Sasuke seemed like a brick wall; Kakashi didn’t want to be fake-smiling at a brick wall. Not that he was saying he wasn’t a brick wall himself…

Sasuke clicked his tongue, a mocking sound if Kakashi ever heard one, and mumbled something under his breath. He sped up, and so did Kakashi. 

“Who was that gentleman just then?” He asked. He stuffed his hands in his pant pockets just before Sasuke turned around to glare at him. Kakashi stopped mid-step. He expected annoyance, irritation, even hate; because he knew what teenage boys were like… especially when they wanted to hide something badly. He saw all that, and more. There was a threat in his eyes, one that said he was willing to kill if he had to. Sasuke wasn’t scared of him, Sasuke looked about ready to kill, and Kakashi knew something was horribly, horribly wrong here. He ran ahead and made the boy stop lest he walked right into Kakashi. “Should I do the right thing as a good neighbour and tell your dad that you’re secretly meeting with a criminal?”

Still the boy didn’t look scared. “You can try. I’m warning you though; you have no idea what you’re messing with.” 

Thank god, Kakashi thought, that he’s taller than Sasuke. He stood up straight, to tower over the boy. “No, you’re the one who doesn’t know what you’re messing with. You have any idea what that man does? Do you know what’s going to happen to you once he’s through? I’m telling you now, back off.” Kakashi wasn’t even surprised that Sasuke didn’t seem to be intimidated by him. He was starting to think that nothing scared the boy. 

Sasuke growled –growled! - And stepped forward. “I. Know.” And then Kakashi blinked and Sasuke faded –he saw the ground and trees behind the boy! He blinked again and Sasuke was gone. He was gone. He was alone.

…*…

“You’re either very brave or very stupid for reporting this to me. You realise what I have to do once my agents report back to me about people disappearing in thin air?” Tsunade leaned back into her giant chair, her amber eyes still bearing down on Kakashi through the computer screen. It didn’t seem to bother her that she might have to send one of her bests for some psychological help. It wasn’t every day that Kakashi reported such things like ‘people disappearing in thin air.’ “And you’re positive that it was Orochimaru you saw? He’s still lingering around Konoha?”

“Yes, he is,” Kakashi grinded his teeth together. Good thing for the mask. He didn’t need his boss to see him getting impatient with her… her and her round-in-a-circle questions. “Tsunade, with all due respect, can you please get over it? I’d really like to know what I can do about the boy. He’s in over his head.”

Kakashi spotted a pulsing at the blond woman’s temple, and was suddenly glad he wasn’t in the same room with her. He’d have been knocked out cold by now. Obviously she didn’t heed the ‘with all due respect’ part. She sighed eventually and rubbed at her temples. “Yeah, yeah, ok. So you really can’t find out why Uchiha Sasuke would go to Orochimaru? Usually he’d just kidnap them if he wanted to experiment on them.” There was a pause, before she stated the obvious. “We’re really lacking information, and we can’t do anything until you find out more.”

The screen in front of Kakashi flickered and faded to his desktop wallpaper, a blank, light grey screen with a heart in the middle and texts inside that said ‘Make another heart throb, give blood.’ Even now he still didn’t understand why he chose this as his wallpaper. He always meant to donate blood, but never got the chance. Maybe he kept it to remind himself. Once in a while, he liked to remember that he was just another human being, and it wasn’t his job to save every single person in trouble. 

Rubbing a tired hand over his masked face, he sighed and leaned back in his seat. With the exception of the humming of the heater in his house, everything else was dead silent. He was alone, always alone now and he was so tired of it that he couldn’t even bring himself to care anymore. It just got sickening sometimes, that’s all. He sat and stared blankly at the wall behind his laptop screen for a long time before heaving himself up, gathering all reports concerning Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke, and migrating to his ever supportive couch. Just as well, because in the living room he was just one room closer to the Uchihas’ house. He could see their driveway and front porch and rubbish bin. Currently the driveway was empty, but daylight was fading and the father would be home soon. Earlier today he’d seen Sasuke come home from school, and the boy didn’t even pretend to not notice him. He actually stopped and stood to glare at Kakashi for a whole three minutes. That had been the highlight of his uneventful day, and as a reward, he’d smiled and waved to the boy. 

Sasuke looked pissed at his smile and wave, and Kakashi didn’t understand why. His smiles were awfully friendly.

“Kids these days,” he mumbled to himself, leafing through the more recent reports of Orochimaru’s men. “Taking drugs and worshipping vampires just isn’t enough… had to go and make deals with an old man bent on immortality.” He thought over his absentminded words, and frowned. He’d revealed himself to Sasuke, let the kid know that he was on to him, and that was definitely a mistake. No doubt Sasuke would be more careful now, more aware of his surroundings. He stepped out in that clearing to Sasuke without a thought, he’d made a mistake. What had he done it for again? Itachi, a stranger living next door who didn’t even know Kakashi existed. He’d done it for Itachi. In the end it proved fruitless. He still hadn’t even spoken a word to him. 

There was a rattling sound, of plastic and glass, and he poked his head out of his window. Speak of the devil and he shall appear… putting a bag of garbage in his rubbish bin. For a moment Kakashi blankly stared, because what were the chances? It was almost too good to be true, but Kakashi wasn’t a glass half empty, so he put on his best smile –not that it’d be visible- and waved his arm. He didn’t say anything though, because he didn’t want to come off desperate… even though he was. It’d been much too long since he’s been on a decent date. Uchiha Itachi, and what a pretty little thing he was, didn’t notice him at first, but Kakashi liked to think he had the kind of power that made people feel his stare. He liked to think it made people uncomfortable when he wanted them to. And so, after putting the lid back on his rubbish bin, Itachi looked around, because at this point he must have felt Kakashi’s stare. 

And it was all part of Kakashi’s plan that he looked right at him and met his smiling eye and waving hand. He still didn’t say anything, just waved and smiled a smile all too cheery. It may have made him look like a stalker, a creepy new neighbour, but it was all too worth it when he could observe the Uchiha’s range of expressions. First there was the blankness as the situation sunk in, and then the surprise, some blinking, and then a slight redness across his nose and cheeks; all that in a blink of an eye. It took Kakashi one second longer to realise that Itachi’s face hadn’t changed at all, his lone expression was still like a brick wall, and all he saw had been in the younger man’s eyes. Oh. Oh, no.

He looked properly again, though. He looked at the expressions, or lack thereof, and decided that the most he’d get from someone like Itachi would be from within his eyes. Just as well, because the Uchiha’s eyes cleared out, like a tide suddenly receding and he turned and walked back into his house. Kakashi wasn’t offended, not at all. He wasn’t. He stood leaning on his window for a while longer, most certainly aware of the youngest Uchiha glaring bloody daggers at him. And when he finally stepped back from the window, he decided that the boy had serious problems. Luckily it was in his unwritten moral rulebook to help any and all teens with serious problems, such as acquainting with criminals and having a major brother complex. 

He went back to work, hunched over his laptop, and didn’t think too much on the Uchihas for the rest of the day…

…*…

When he checked his work email one morning and received a list of murder victims, he was almost certain Yamato had sent it to the wrong address. He was already on a case, albeit a slow-moving case and he didn’t need another one. He looked through the list anyway, because Icha Icha Paradise could only keep him entertained for so long. It didn’t take him long to find patterns, and when he thought about sending it back to Yamato, he found another pattern. The first pattern was that all victims were found in the vicinity of Konoha, and the second pattern was that all bodies were drained when found. Just when he thought about handing this case to Kurenai, because she was good with the vampire-like cases, he realised it was a slit to the throat that killed the victims, not bite wounds. 

He looked through the files again and again, trying to link them to Orochimaru. But the criminal had stopped with the blood-letting years ago; he’s moved on to a more creative trend… like injecting the weirdest things into his bloodstream just to live a little longer. He couldn’t, though… couldn’t connect the dots. Orochimaru’s techniques didn’t go like this. He’s usually unpredictable – which makes him predictable like that. Sometimes he left traces of him just to stir the organisation; sometimes he’d be long gone before they caught up with him. This new killer was prideful. He or she left the body wherever, because it seemed like they couldn’t care any less if they were caught or not… just wanted the killing done. 

In the end, despite swearing to himself that he’d lay off the alcohol for a little while longer, he took a bottle and headed out the backyard. He didn’t care that he’d probably feel Sasuke’s glare at the back of his head the whole time he’s out there. Just as well, because the boy was waiting for him when he got there.

Kakashi was great with kids, if he was being honest… and modest, but he was not great with teenagers. They were unpredictable and so, so creative. He’d never know when they were pulling his legs. And so, just because he wanted to be on the boy’s good side, he said “Want beer?”

From over the fence separating their backyards, Sasuke glared. Kakashi wondered if he was going to disappear in thin air again. Hatake Kakashi was an open-minded man; was completely open to things that didn’t truly belong. Sasuke didn’t disappear though. 

“You haven’t told my father yet,” he said. 

What kids these days call their father ‘father’ anymore?

“No, no,” he waved a hand carelessly. “I’m sure you have good reasons for acquainting with a criminal.” 

“I do.”

“Oh… Well good, I thought so.” There was a pause and Kakashi desperately wanted to take a sip from his bottle. He won’t though; it’s quite uncomfortable drinking through a mask. “You know he’s a criminal, right?” The boy nodded. “You also know whatever he promised you he won’t deliver, right?” There’s hesitation in those abyss-like eyes. “I’m really trying to help, Sasuke. Whatever he’s offering, you’re not going to get it. He’s gonna take whatever he wants, and then you’re a goner. What does he want with you anyway?”

The boy smirked; just barely a tilt at the corner of his thin lips. Kakashi never truly noticed how much he looked like his brother… until he didn’t anymore. With that cold, lifeless smirk he looked too much like father. “You’re the one who’s been following this man, agent, shouldn’t you know?” 

Kakashi knew his shock didn’t show on his face, it usually never did. “Oh, we have nicknames for each other now? That’s cute. You can call me agent if you want, and I think I’ll call you broody.” 

If he wasn’t so experienced in reading people, Kakashi would never see the change in Sasuke’s eyes. They hardened, and he was reminded of their encounter in the forest, when Kakashi was so sure that Sasuke would kill him if he really got in his way. “Whatever,” he said. “What I’m doing isn’t hurting anybody. And if you’re really the good guy, then you’d let me do this.” He uncrossed his arms and turned around, ready to head back inside. “Stay out of my way, Hatake Kakashi. This is something bigger than you.”

He stood alone, with a bottle of beer no longer cold in his hand. Sasuke said it ‘this is something bigger than you’ and slowly but surely, it was starting to sink in. 

He must have been so deep in his thoughts, because when Itachi spoke to him, the bottle in his hand slipped. “He’s very determined. I’d stay out of his way if I were you. Let him realise on his own that it’s useless.”

Up close, Itachi was ridiculously, devastatingly pale. Before speaking and most likely making a fool out of himself, Kakashi observed Itachi’s features. He was a creature of black and white, was what he realised first. There was no shade in between; Black hair, white skin, black eyes. His eyes revealed nothing, but they were cold and almost arrogant. The sadness he saw when he first laid eyes on Itachi was no longer there, and this pretty man that stood before Kakashi was the type that he hated the most. The only imperfection was the lines under his eyes that made him look constantly tired, and that only served to make him that much more appealing. Still, there was no denying the heat that stirred in his lower region, nor the urge to just at least mar the clear expanse of pale skin. 

“That’s nice of you, to have so little faith in your brother.” 

Ridiculously long, dark lashes fluttered as Itachi observed the older looking man from across the fence. “It’s not a matter of lack of faith,” he said. “He’s wasting his time, and he knows this. Still, he persists. I’m merely asking you to let him be.” Dark eyes glanced at Kakashi up and down, and he almost wished that there was at least a trace of attraction there. “You’re just a secret agent pretending to be our new neighbour; I think you have your eyes set on the wrong case.”

“Oh, so there’s a case here?” Kakashi stepped closer and lean on the fence, smiling with his eye. If Itachi was going to teleport in mid-air like his brother, then he’d at least like a closer look at it. Though, really, why would Itachi teleport when his house was just a few steps away? “I think so too,” he said cheerily. “After all, it’s not every day that I see someone disappear in mid-air. He should enter the next school talent show; I bet that’s something they’ve never seen before.”

There it was again! 

That flash of pity in those eyes; Sasuke had the same look when he realised Kakashi wouldn’t leave him alone. And he hated it. He hated that anyone had to look at him like that. He didn’t need pity. He’s probably stumbled his way into something too large to ignore, too much for him, but he wasn’t helpless. 

“You are in over your head, agent. This will be the only warning I’m giving you. If you become too much of a pest, I’m telling you now that it won’t be me or my brother you have to fear.” 

Even if he had been expecting it, Kakashi was still taken aback when Itachi faded and swirled out of existence, as if the wind just carried him off, particle by particle.

It was almost night time by the time he stumbled his way to his laptop. Immediately he contacted Tsunade. He gave her the full report, asked that she try to shed some light onto this out-worldly situation. He told her that the Uchiha brothers had called him ‘agent’ and repeated to her that they had disappeared in mid-air once more. 

He went to bed, but only managed to fall asleep after he stuck his hand under his boxers and palmed himself, pleasured to thoughts of the older of the Uchiha siblings. ‘Tomorrow,’ he thought, ‘tomorrow I’ll start researching.’

…*…

The advantage of not having a job or school to go to, Itachi mused, was that he could do anything and people wouldn’t care. Of course, that could also be due to the spell his father placed over the whole town hundreds of years ago. This morning he walked into a footwear store and set the fire alarm on. The people there had calmly and orderly walked out of the store, because Konoha was the type of town that rehearsed drills monthly. They rehearsed fire drills, earth quake drills, flood evacuations –why, Itachi had no idea. Konoha was hundreds of miles away from the coast and nestled snuggly in between unmovable mountains. Still, when he set the fire alarm on, there was barely enough reaction to entertain him. 

When the people realised there had been no danger, they smiled and hugged each other, and said it was a false alarm and all was forgiven, never mind that most of them saw him eyeing the alarm at one point or another.

He walked away, slightly disappointed. He didn’t do it every day, didn’t cause the highlights of the town on a daily basis. When he did, though, he at least expected to be… stirred, entertained, amused… whatever. Perhaps the town’s indifference of the Uchiha family’s existence due to his father’s spell has turned into a total blind eye after all, to the point where they were no longer affected by them.

He walked by and saw the front page of the newspaper. Murder; that was weeks ago, and in a few more there’d be another one, at a different location that’s just coincidentally the closest city to Konoha, drained of blood as well. Still, it was on the newspaper, and his father would be displeased. He’d best go to the library, get on a computer and see what rumour surrounded it that he could use to cover the truth up. Just as well, because in the corner of the big, hushed library his keen eyes spotted the tall mop of silver hair. There was a tremor of delight in his body, like last night when he talked to the agent, and Itachi was more than eager to indulge. 

His father would disapprove; but Itachi had been a good, loyal son. It was about time he got a little reward. 

Gliding over, he saw the larger man hunched over a book, ancient and fragile. 

“You can’t sneak up on a secret agent, Itachi,” he mumbled. “Whatever you are, you’re not that good.” 

Itachi’s upper lip trembled, slowly easing into a tiny smile. “I wasn’t sneaking up on you,” he said. “I have no reason to.”

“Right.” Kakashi’s reply was quiet, and almost miserable-sounding. It almost made him wonder what sad little novel the younger man was reading. “Come sit with me, Itachi. I want you to tell me what happened here,” he pointed to a page in the thick book.

“The ninth mayor of this town was elected,” Itachi replied. He pointed to the top of the brown, crumbling page. The texts were barely readable, and the small image was hand drawn. “It says so right here.” Kakashi didn’t smile with his eye, like he did last night, and Itachi just knew he was getting somewhere. There’s a thrill in his stomach, hot and excited. 

Kakashi turned the page, “What about here?” He didn’t give Itachi time to reply, before he turned the page, “And here,” and another page, “And here,” and another page again. “Or maybe your brother can tell me what happened here,” he pointed to another page. From over the man’s shoulder, Itachi saw Sasuke’s face on the page, on the edge of the crowd gathered to observe the circus that rolled into town. He was dressed differently, as appropriate to the time period, no doubt, but his face was still sullen and brooding. There was a hat on his head, but it didn’t completely cover the spikes at the back. 

“Ah,” Itachi breathed. “Sasuke wanted to join the circus when he was younger.”

“Right,” Kakashi mumbled, and he still refused to look at Itachi. Itachi decided that the man was still reeling from reality. He could only imagine what must be going on in that silver head of his. Did he suspect Itachi and his family to be vampires? Like most people these days would? “Or maybe your dad could tell me about the sixth mayor? They look awfully alike, almost identical.” 

“They do,” if the statement came off insincere, then so be it. Itachi was only indulging him, there was no threat. They could get rid of Hatake Kakashi easily, should the need arise. If Kakashi was suddenly going to sprout nonsense about immortal beings, nobody here would pay him a mind. As far as the people of Konoha were concerned, The Uchiha family were part of the town’s history. They learned to ignore and move on. If asked if they knew an Uchiha, most of them would scratch their head and said the name sounded familiar… but that would be it. The spell prevented people from paying actual attention to them. Why it didn’t seem to work on one Hatake Kakashi, Itachi didn’t know.

“This is the most interesting one, I think,” Kakashi said. He turned a couple of pages, going forward instead of backwards in time. “A young man, still learning about medicine, saved the eighth mayor’s life when he broke his leg and fell ill.” It was too early for photographs back then, Itachi remembered. He also recalled sitting for hours beside the newly recovered mayor just so that they could draw him in the book. Later that night, Sasuke was punished for Itachi’s actions. It was law in their household: don’t gain attention, don’t matter. “Pretty little thing, wasn’t he?”

Itachi found it almost amusing, that that man made no attempt to hide his attraction towards him. “I don’t think this town’s historical events are that interesting. There are many more books you can read here. Shall I introduce you to the adults’ novels shelf?”

“No, thank you. I’d like to invite you back to my house for a cup of tea though, would that be ok?” He stood up, at the same time slamming the book shut. “Or, is a cup of blood better suited for your diet?” There’s something cold and hard pointing at his side, suddenly, and Itachi felt a small smile bloom on his face. It’s been so long. There’s a gun pointed at his body, and still he’d like to indulge the younger, but bigger man. Some amusement was long overdue…

“Tea would be just fine, thank you. Blood is… overrated.” He looked down at the gun; it was tiny and no doubt efficient, but it also wouldn’t kill him. It would hurt him, but he’d heal within hours. “You can put that away now. Your house is right next to mine, at one point or another I’ll have to go home.”

“Good point,” Kakashi mumbled, and all of a sudden Itachi’s aware of how close they’re standing. He could feel the heat from the silver-haired man’s body, and it’s very inviting. The point of the little gun disappeared from his side. “All right, come on.”

“Shouldn’t you put the book back where you got it from?”

“Nope, I’ll leave it there… see if anyone else puts the pieces together and realise they have vampires for neighbours.”

The need to inform the younger man that he and his family were, in fact, not vampires was just at the tip of his tongue. Instead Itachi smiled. “Unlikely,” he muttered. There was a spell and it worked perfectly fine. Nobody would pay them any attention to them; that’s the way it’s been for hundreds of years now… Hatake Kakashi was just special, though Itachi’s yet to figure out in what way. He would, though; he’d solve this mystery that was Hatake Kakashi and get rid of him. “You’re just very special.”

“I completely agree.”

…*…

It wasn’t after Itachi walked out of his house and next door to his own home that Kakashi felt like he was finally, finally awake. He hadn’t discovered anything new, because all they did was drink and talk and flirt in that weird, intense way of theirs, but he’d been in a haze. And Kakashi didn’t even realise he was in a haze until Itachi went away, and he could suddenly remember his own name again. At that point it had been too late to call for the younger man. 

He took hours after that to contemplate whether he should call Tsunade and tell her of his founding or not. In the end he opted not to, because he didn’t have enough evidence for this crazy situation yet, and it would also make him sound extremely insane. 

When he sat alone that night at his dinner table, Kakashi laughed to himself. “Vampires,” he scoffed. It was ridiculous, even as he said it. He knew for a fact that Itachi was not a vampire, despite his ethereal beauty and enticing scent and inviting-everything-else. He’d checked in his own way. Itachi’s body temperature was normal –a brush of the hands confirmed that, and he didn’t turn into several bats… just disintegrated into thin air was all. “Damn it,” he muttered, once the hysteria of it all left him. “What the hell?”

He was stuck in a weird, too-perfect-in-every-way town, caught in something way bigger than himself, with a house next door full of creatures he didn’t have a name for, and he was sure one of them just enchanted him. Enchantment… that was the only way to explain how he felt for Itachi, it definitely wasn’t love, because it wasn’t real enough, but it wasn’t just lust either, because when he went to sleep, his body natural curled around something –someone- who was not there, something lost and beloved, just found. It was a wonder, how he’d get himself out of this one.


End file.
